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James Connelly Ross Bailey Annual Review 2014

The Drum's New Year Honours: People to watch, retail champions and top CMOs

By The Drum Team, Editorial

Fetch

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james connelly article

January 3, 2015 | 6 min read

The week, as part of The Drum's New Year Honours list, we've been taking some time to look back on 2014, recognising the year's best brands, agencies and creative work.

Yesterday, we published our list of people to watch out for in 2015, now we've identified the movers and shakers that have sent ripples through adland over the past 12 months.

Take a look below to see which up-and-coming agency figures, retail champions and CMOs made the cut.

James Connelly: One to watch

2014 saw mobile agency Fetch, founded by 28-year-old James Connelly, snapped up by Dentsu Aegis Network for an estimated £30m.

He told The Drum at the time that being part of a global network would be the best way for the London-based agency to realise its growth ambitions in the US and Asia and expand its services and all in all “take it to a new level”. We expect to see more great things from this very talented young individual.

Nicola Mendelsohn: One to watch

Since her high-profile appointment at Facebook in 2013, Nicola Mendelsohn now heads the tech giant’s international expansion in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

As co-chair of the government’s Creative Industries Council, she works alongside business secretary Vince Cable and culture secretary Sajid Javid, and she was also appointed as a non-executive director on Diageo’s board in July.

Add to this her ever present voice in the fight for gender equality in the workplace and it is no wonder we are excited to see what she gets up to in 2015.

Beverley Churchill: One to watch

Brand director at Covent Garden London since 2007, Beverly Churchill has overseen the area’s retail makeover, drawing on her previous experience as marketing director at Selfridges to do so.

In her role as director of marketing and communications for property developer Capco she took, what she described as the “logic of the department store” with her to redesign the entire area, which has now become a mecca for beauty shoppers with both Chanel and Dior opening standalone beauty stores there.

Arthur Sadoun: One to watch

Arthur Sadoun, chief executive of Publicis Worldwide for the last year, has big plans for 2015. Following a raft of global high-profile hires, he told The Drum he wants to build Publicis into “the creative partner of choice” for clients.

All eyes are on Sadoun as he attempts to shrug off the pressure of being tipped as Maurice Lévy’s successor in the top job. 2015 will provide evidence as to whether those predictions are likely to hold water – early indications are that they just might.

Kenny Jacobs: CMO of the year

After Ryanair poached Kenny Jacobs from Moneysupermarket in January, he proceeded to turn the budget airline’s hostile image on its head with its first-ever advertising campaign – ‘Always Getting Better’.

Under Jacobs’ reign, the once uncaring brand has simplified its ticket buying process, developed a mobile app, and introduced mobile boarding passes – all to provide a better customer experience.

And the approach appears to be paying off. Customers have responded well, evidenced by web traffic growing four per cent to 51.3 million customers, profits soaring 32 per cent to ˇ795m, and total revenues increasing by nine per cent to ˇ3.54bn.

Pete Markey: CMO of the year

Pete Markey arrived at the Post Office in May 2014 and hit the ground running. The brand has since waged a campaign to bring the 350-year-old business into the digital age.

Over £1bn was invested into modernising thousands of branches around the country, as the company attempted to create a sense of cohesion between on and offline offerings.

Markey implemented a new focus on harnessing data to improve customer experience with a new head of data analytics position. 2014 was also the first time in five years that the Post Office put out a Christmas TV advert, taking advantage of the massive stream of Christmas postage revenue.

Ross Bailey: Retail champion

2014 has been the year of pop-up shops. The British Retail Consortium calculated that they add an estimated £2.1bn to the British economy each year and a plethora of brands – from Clarks, Coca-Cola and Net-a-Porter – started experimenting with pop-up shops. And behind it all is 22-year-old Ross Bailey.

Harnessing the trend of the pop-up, Bailey forsaw the challenges faced by retailers in finding temporary space and set up Appear Here just two years ago to make renting a shop as easy and flexible as booking a hotel room.

In the past 12 months it has gone from opening 80 pop-ups in central London to over 600 and from operating in five UK cities to over 20. And thanks to a £5m investment, it is set to expand internationally in 2015.

Stuart Anderson: Retail champion

Transport for London’s head of retail Stuart Anderson has been on a mission in 2014 to breathe new life into the disused and unloved space in London Underground stations.

Old Street Station in London’s east end has been transformed into a pop-up destination, with a bike boutique, a cold-pressed juice store, and a surf centre just some of the surprises that have greeted weary commuters.

He has his eye on Piccadilly Circus next, with a raft of other exciting plans in the pipeline for 2015.

James Connelly Ross Bailey Annual Review 2014

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